How Can an African-American consciousness and Reformed theology benefit each other? Where was God in the Atlantic Slave Trade? How does Christianity triumph among people historically oppressed in part by the church itself? Anthony Carter brings positive, informed responses to such questions, thereby enriching our understanding and furthering racial reconciliation. Book jacket.
Ten African-American leaders in the church tell their stories of how they embraced Reformed theology and what effect it has had on their lives and ministries. The ten men who have contributed to this book are often asked, "How did you come to embrace Reformed theology?" With the recent surge in popularity of Reformed theology in the broader evangelical world and the growing interest among African-Americans, it shouldn't seem curious that more and more African-American churchmen are embracing Reformed theology. But the question remains, and Glory Road provides an answer, using personal accounts tracing their conversion to Christianity, their introduction to and embrace of Reformed theology, and this theology's effect on their lives and ministries. Ultimately, Glory Road is about the glory of God in providentially bringing men and women to the truths of salvation. In addition to the book's editor, Anthony J. Carter, Glory Road includes contributions from such notable pastors as Thabiti Anyabwile, Ken Jones, Michael Leach, and Eric Redmond.
These essays represent a forceful, relentless engagement with the political, social, economic, and theological pillars upon which South African apartheid rested. In the renewed struggles against global apartheid, Boesak's writings, in their theological grounding and with their social and political challenge, come across as alive, relevant, and powerful as they were in the struggle against South African apartheid, offering valuable insights and lessons for ongoing justice struggles today.
Does it really matter? Does it matter if we have free will? Does it matter if Calvinism is true? And does what you think about it matter? No and yes. No, it doesn't matter because God is who he is and does what he does regardless of what we think of him, just as the solar system keeps spinning around the sun even if we're convinced it spins around the earth. Our opinions about God will not change God, but they can change us. And so yes, it does matter because the conversations about free will and Calvinism confront us with perhaps the only question that really matters: who is God? This is a book about that question--a book about the Bible, black holes, love, sovereignty, hell, Romans 9, Jonathan Edwards, John Piper, C. S. Lewis, Karl Barth, and a little girl in a red coat. You've heard arguments, but here's a story--Austin Fischer's story, and his journey in and out of Calvinism on a trip to the center of the universe.
Reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition can help us connect with a rich faith history and address the urgent issues of our times. Demonstrating an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, New Testament scholar Esau McCaulley shares a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation.
Is the Black Church dying? The picture is mixed and there are many challenges. The church needs spiritual revival. But reviving and strengthening the Black Church will require great wisdom and courage. Reviving the Black Church calls us back to another time, borrowing the wisdom of earlier faithful Christians. But more importantly, it calls us back to the Bible itself. For there we find the divine wisdom needed to see all quarters of the Black Church live again, thriving in the Spirit of God. It’s pastor and church planter Thabiti Anyabwile's humble prayer that this book might be useful to pastors and faithful lay members in reviving at least some quarters of the Black Church, and churches of every ethnicity and context— all for the glory of God.
"Kwon and Thompson's eloquent reasoning will help Christians broaden their understanding of the contemporary conversation over reparations."--Publishers Weekly "A thoughtful approach to a vital topic."--Library Journal Christians are awakening to the legacy of racism in America like never before. While public conversations regarding the realities of racial division and inequalities have surged in recent years, so has the public outcry to work toward the long-awaited healing of these wounds. But American Christianity, with its tendency to view the ministry of reconciliation as its sole response to racial injustice, and its isolation from those who labor most diligently to address these things, is underequipped to offer solutions. Because of this, the church needs a new perspective on its responsibility for the deep racial brokenness at the heart of American culture and on what it can do to repair that brokenness. This book makes a compelling historical and theological case for the church's obligation to provide reparations for the oppression of African Americans. Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson articulate the church's responsibility for its promotion and preservation of white supremacy throughout history, investigate the Bible's call to repair our racial brokenness, and offer a vision for the work of reparation at the local level. They lead readers toward a moral imagination that views reparations as a long-overdue and necessary step in our collective journey toward healing and wholeness.
"This book is an important account of a critical struggle for equity, inclusion and reparation of African Americans in a historic ethnic church in America and beyond. The Reformed (Dutch) Church in America (RCA) traces its origins back to 1628, making it one of the oldest Protestant churches in the United States. This book is an account of how this overwhelmingly ethnic denomination, when confronted by the Black Manifesto's 1969 demand for reparations over its historic role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and its support for the system of chattel slavery, reacted and struggled through the years"--
These essays represent a forceful, relentless engagement with the political, social, economic, and theological pillars upon which South African apartheid rested. In the renewed struggles against global apartheid, Boesak's writings, in their theological grounding and with their social and political challenge, come across as alive, relevant, and powerful as they were in the struggle against South African apartheid, offering valuable insights and lessons for ongoing justice struggles today.
Carter shows how Reformed theology best speaks to African-American experienceand demonstrates how black experiences and traditions can and should deeply enrich our theology, no matter our heritage.
